Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 5:6
Blessed [are] they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
6. This longing for righteousness is God’s gift to the meek.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Blessed are they which do hunger … – Hunger and thirst, here, are expressive of strong desire. Nothing would better express the strong desire which we ought to feel to obtain righteousness than hunger and thirst. No needs are so keen, none so imperiously demand supply, as these. They occur daily, and when long continued, as in case of those shipwrecked, and doomed to wander months or years over burning sands, with scarcely any drink or food, nothing is more distressing. An ardent desire for anything is often represented in the Scriptures by hunger and thirst, Psa 42:1-2; Psa 63:1-2. A desire for the blessings of pardon and peace; a deep sense of sin, and want, and wretchedness, is also represented by thirsting, Isa 55:1-2.
They shall be filled – They shall be satisfied as a hungry man is when supplied with food, or a thirsty man when supplied with drink. Those who are perishing for want of righteousness; those who feel that they are lost sinners and strongly desire to be holy, shall be thus satisfied. Never was there a desire to be holy which God was not willing to gratify, and the gospel of Christ has made provision to satisfy all who truly desire to be holy. See Isa 55:1-3; Isa 65:13; Joh 4:14; Joh 6:35; Joh 7:37-38; Psa 17:15.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 5:6
They which do hunger and thirst.
Righteousness desired
I. A few features of the disposition here commended. The term righteousness is variously used.
1. Sometimes it signifies rectitude.
2. Sometimes imputed righteousness.
3. Sometimes personal righteousness. But here it means-
(1) A death unto sin;
(2) A renunciation of the world;
(3) A deliberate choice of God.
II. Trace this disposition to its legitimate source.
III. Attend to the gracious statement made respecting the possession of this disposition.
1. It implies that their desires shall be satisfied.
2. It implies a plenitude of satisfaction.
3. The text implies the stability of the promise, that this satisfaction is sure.
To conclude-
1. Is the disposition possessed by us?
2. Have you an ardent desire for righteousness. (J. Jordan.)
A test of heavenly citizenship
I. An object of Christian desire-righteousness. This is conformity to Gods will. God is righteous.
1. Personal purity.
2. It also takes the form of doing right.
II. This object is a matter of desire.
1. The desire for righteousness is present more or less in most men.
2. The attention is not drawn to its possession, but to the desire for it.
III. The attainment of this object. They shall have righteousness.
1. The desire for righteousness is met by the actual presence of sin. Jesus died that sin might be removed.
2. The desire for righteousness is met and apparently hindered by the moral feebleness of our moral nature. The Holy Ghost is given to him.
IV. The possession of this object is happiness. (W. Butcher.)
I. The vastness and intensty of the religious life. Hunger and thirst are primitive appetites; they cover life.
II. The glory Of the religious life. We assimilate the strength of what we feed on.
III. The progressiveness of the religious life.
IV. The satisfaction of the religious life. (T. T. Sherlock, B. A.)
Heart-cravings
1. Man may be measured by his desires.
2. Righteousness a supreme object of desire.
3. The desire is the measure of the supply.
4. A real desire culminates in action, hunger drives to work. (G. Elliot.)
The want of spiritual appetite
1. Desire is a condition and prophecy of religious attainments.
2. This law of desire explains our spiritual poverty.
3. This want of appetite for righteousness is the curse of mankind. (Am. Hem. Monthly.)
Longing for righteousness
I. He who would have the blessing promised in the text, must want righteousness-as a hungry man wants food. This tests the value of our superficial professions. In order to this longing he must perceive the intrinsic worth of the thing desired.
II. What is here meant by righteousness.
1. It is not the single virtue of justice or rectitude. It implies the essence of the thing, a state of mind and heart; a soil out of which all single virtues grow.
2. It is not merely a desire to see righteous-mess prevailing in the world at large.
3. It is a desire not merely for doing righteously, but for being righteous.
III. The result. I fear some are not hungering for righteousness, but for the rewards of righteousness. Worldly good cannot fill man. Intellectual attainment cannot. Goodness will satisfy. There is no condition where we cannot be satisfied in the enjoyment of righteousness. Goodness does not forsake a man. (E. H. Chaplin.)
I. The state or condition described.
1. What righteousness is it? Gods justifying righteousness. The necessity for it is deeply felt. This hungering is a special condition of mind, an indication of healthy, spiritual life.
II. The blessedness of this state of mind. Satisfied because it quenches the desire of sin. A mark of the Divine favour. Security and permanency of the blessing. Identical with that of the glorified in heaven. (W. Barker.)
I. What is this righteousness?
II. What is it that leads persons thus to hunger and thirst? A sense of insufficiency and dissatisfaction in all created things; a sense of guilt; a perception of the utter inefficacy of all human prescriptions to remove sin or supply righteousness; a discovery of that righteousness which is unto all and upon all that believe.
III. Those who thus hunger and thirst are pronounced blessed. Because it is the evidence of a new nature-acceptance with God. They are drawn off from the disappointing and perplexing pursuits of the things of this world; they are filled-satisfied-with righteousness, happiness, and finally with the likeness of God, etc. We learn that real religion is a matter of personal experience. (Dr. J. Cramming.)
See here at what a low price God sets heavenly things; it is but hungering and thirsting.
I. Do but hunger and you shall have righteousness.
(1) Hunger less after the world and
(2) more after righteousness.
(3) Say concerning spiritual things: Lord, evermore give me this bread.
(4) Hunger after that righteousness which delivereth from death.
II. If we do not thirst here, we shall thirst when it is too late.
(1) If we do not thirst as David did (Psa 42:2),
(2) we shall thirst as Dives did, for a drop of water.
(3) Oh, is it not better to thirst for righteousness while it is to be had, than to thirst for mercy when there is none to be had? (Thomas Watson.)
What an encouragement is this to hunger after righteousness! Such shall be filled. God chargeth us to fill the hungry (Isa 58:10). He blames those who do not fill the hungry (Isa 32:6). And do we think He will be slack in that which He blames us for not doing? God is a fountain. If we bring the vessels of our desires to this fountain, He is able to fill them. The fulness in God is:-
I. An infinite fulness.
(1) Though He fill us, yet He hath never the less Himself.
(2) As it hath its resplendency, so
(3) its redundancy. It is inexhaustible and fathomless,
II. It is a constant fulness.
1. The fulness of the creature is mutable. It ebbs and changeth.
2. Gods fulness is overflowing and everflowing.
3. It is a never-failing goodness.
III. God fills the hungry soul with-
1. Grace. Grace is filling because suitable to the soul.
2. Peace. Israel had honey out of the rock; this honey of peace comes out of the rock Christ.
3. Bliss. Glory is a filling thing. When a Christian awakes out of the sleep of death, then he shall be satisfied. Then shall the soul be filled brimful. (Thomas Watson.)
I. What is here meant by righteousness.
1. Actual and inherent righteousness; living a life in sincere and perfect obedience to all the laws of God.
2. Imputed righteousness.
II. What is it to hunger and thirst after righteousness?
1. TO contend fiercely and fight manfully against our spiritual adversaries.
2. To desire ardently and intensely for spiritual sustenance.
3. To discharge our duty in every point to the best of our skill and power.
4. To willingly suffer hunger, thirst, cold, nakedness, and the want of anything necessary for the support and comfort of life, rather than knowingly transgress any point of duty. (Bishop Ofspring Blackall, D. D.)
Soul starvation a sad and guilty thing
The utter starving of the soul, if we could see it as we see other things, would strike us as one of the saddest of things. When the shepherd, over in New York, had a house for the reception of orphan children, and on inspection it was found that the soup was very thin, that there was but little of it, that the food was most stingily dealt out, and that these children were gradually coming to be skin and bones by starvation charity, the whole city flamed with indignation. They threw open the door of the cell, and seized him by the throat, and pitched him in ignominiously. But look into your own soul and see how the things that are nearest to God are shut up in you. While your awakened appetites and passions are fully clothed, and are walking up and down the palace of your soul, having their own way, I hear a faint cry in some remote chamber thereof. It is conscience moaning and pleading for food; and. I hear the thundering rap of passions on the door as they say, Hush! Be still! Are you never going to sleep? Will you never die? In another quarter I hear the soul crying for food. What ails you? is the response; and a bone is thrown in for it to gnaw on. (Beecher.)
Righteousness many-sided
It is not merely the single virtue of justice or rectitude-in fact, no virtue is absolutely single, if we look at it closely. A man cannot really have one virtue, and but one, genuine and complete. He cannot have one without having all virtues and all graces, for no one virtue or grace is complete without the intermingling of the life and reciprocal action of all the rest. We make a great mistake if we suppose otherwise. There have been men who could play delightful music on one string of the violin, but there never was a man who could produce the harmonies of heaven in his soul by one-stringed virtue. Can a man be thoroughly and strictly honest, and at the same time be a selfish man? Can he be temperate. Suppose a man, for instance, pursuing a course of virtue, a course of temperance, or of rectitude, has the promise that he shall be wealthy, and that he shall have long life-shall make a fortune, and shall be respected. This is all very good; but what is the essence of all this? It is in being righteous; that is the great blessing. So that if you have a long life, it is a righteous life; and if you have wealth, it is righteous wealth, as you make a righteous use and disposition of it. With this, any condition is blessed; without it, no condition is blessed. So the essence of all promises is in the possession of this intrinsic righteousness. (E. H. Chaplin.)
Moral hunger a developing energy
Now, the same law prevails in the mind. That is to say, outward activity grows from some sort of inward uneasiness or impulse. Hunger existing in the body works outwardly, first, into that industry which supplies it, and then enlarges gradually, and inspires a more complex industry. And so almost; all of life in its upper sphere proceeds from a kind of hunger which exists in the soul. Some yearning, or longing, or action, or some faculty developing itself and working to produce its appropriate gratification-this is the analogue; and the character, as formed by the faculties, answers to the industrial creations produced by sensations of hunger and thirst in the body. (Beecher.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 6. They which do hunger and thirst] As the body has its natural appetites of hunger and thirst for the food and drink suited to its nourishment, so has the soul. No being is indestructible or unfailing in its nature but GOD; no being is independent but him: as the body depends for its nourishment, health, and strength upon the earth, so does the soul upon heaven. Heavenly things cannot support the body; they are not suited to its nature: earthly things cannot support the soul, for the same reason. When the uneasy sensation termed hunger takes place in the stomach, we know we must get food or perish. When the soul is awakened to a tense of its wants, and begins to hunger and thirst after righteousness or holiness, which is its proper food, we know that it must be purified by the Holy Spirit, and be made a partaker of that living bread, Joh 8:48, or perish everlastingly. Now, as God never inspires a prayer but with a design to answer it, he who hungers and thirsts after the full salvation of God, may depend on being speedily and effectually blessed or satisfied, well-fed, as the word implies. Strong and intense desire after any object has been, both by poets and orators, represented metaphorically by hunger and thirst. See the well-known words of Virgil, AEneid iii. 55.
———Quid non mortalia pectora cogis,
Auri sacra FAMES! “O cursed hunger after gold! what canst thou not influence the hearts of men to perpetrate?”
How frequently do we find, inexplebilis honorum FAMES-SITIENS virtutis-famae SITUS, the insatiable hunger after honour, a thirst for virtue, thirst after fame, and such like! Righteousness here is taken for all the blessings of the new covenant – all the graces of the Messiah’s kingdom – a full restoration to the image of God!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
You see many men and women hungering and thirsting after sensual satisfactions, or after sensible enjoyments; these are unhappy, miserable men, they often hunger and thirst, and are not satisfied: but I will show you a more excellent way, a more excellent object of your hunger and thirst, that is, righteousness; both a righteousness wherein you may stand before God, which is in me, Jer 23:6, and is revealed from faith to faith, Rom 1:17, and the righteousness of a holy life. Those are blessed men, who first seek the kingdom of heaven, and the righteousness thereof, God will fill these men with what they desire, Isa 55:1,2; Lu 1:53. There are some who understand this text of a hungering after the clearing of their innocency towards men, which is natural to just and innocent persons falsely accused and traduced, and they have a promise of being filled, Psa 37:6; but I see no reason to conclude this the sense of this text.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. Blessed are they which do hungerand thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled“shallbe saturated.” “From this verse,” says THOLUCK,”the reference to the Old Testament background ceases.”Surprising! On the contrary, none of these beatitudes is moremanifestly dug out of the rich mine of the Old Testament. Indeed, howcould any one who found in the Old Testament “the poor inspirit,” and “the mourners in Zion,” doubt that hewould also find those same characters also craving thatrighteousness which they feel and mourn their want of? But what isthe precise meaning of “righteousness” here? Lutheranexpositors, and some of our own, seem to have a hankering after thatmore restricted sense of the term in which it is used with referenceto the sinner’s justification before God. (See Jer 23:6;Isa 45:24; Rom 4:6;2Co 5:21). But, in socomprehensive a saying as this, it is clearly to be takenas in Mt5:10 alsoin a much wider sense, as denoting that spiritual andentire conformity to the law of God, under the want of which thesaints groan, and the possession of which constitutes the only truesaintship. The Old Testament dwells much on this righteousness, asthat which alone God regards with approbation (Psa 11:7;Psa 23:3; Psa 106:3;Pro 12:28; Pro 16:31;Isa 64:5, c.). As hunger andthirst are the keenest of our appetites, our Lord, by employing thisfigure here, plainly means “those whose deepest cravings areafter spiritual blessings.” And in the Old Testament we findthis craving variously expressed: “Hearken unto Me, ye thatfollow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord” (Isa51:1) “I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord,”exclaimed dying Jacob (Ge 49:18);”My soul,” says the sweet Psalmist, “breaketh for thelonging that it hath unto Thy judgments at all times” (Ps119:20): and in similar breathings does he give vent to hisdeepest longings in that and other Psalms. Well, our Lord just takesup herethis blessed frame of mind, representing it asthe surestpledge of the coveted supplies, as it is the best preparative, andindeed itself the beginning of them. “They shall be saturated,”He says; they shall not only have what they so highly value and longto possess, but they shall have their fill of it. Not here, however.Even in the Old Testament this was well understood. “Deliverme,” says the Psalmist, in language which, beyond all doubt,stretches beyond the present scene, “from men of the world,which have their portion in this life: as for me, I shall behold Thyface in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thylikeness” (Ps17:13-15). The foregoing beatitudesthe first fourrepresentthe saints rather as conscious of their need of salvation, andacting suitably to that character, than as possessed of it. The nextthree are of a different kindrepresenting the saints as havingnow found salvation, and conducting themselves accordingly.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst,…. Not after the riches, honours, and pleasures of this world, but
after righteousness; by which is meant, not justice and equity, as persons oppressed and injured; nor a moral, legal righteousness, which the generality of the Jewish nation were eagerly pursuing; but the justifying righteousness of Christ, which is imputed by God the Father, and received by faith. To “hunger and thirst” after this, supposes a want of righteousness, which is the case of all men; a sense of want of it, which is only perceived by persons spiritually enlightened; a discovery of the righteousness of Christ to them, which is made in the Gospel, and by the Spirit of God; a value for it, and a preference of it to all other righteousness; and an earnest desire after it, to be possessed of it, and found in it; and that nothing can be more grateful than that, because of its perfection, purity, suitableness, and use: happy souls are these,
for they shall be filled: with that righteousness, and with all other good things, in consequence of it; and particularly with joy and peace, which are the certain effects of it: or, “they shall be satisfied”, that they have an interest in it; and so satisfied with it, that they shall never seek for any other righteousness, as a justifying one, in the sight of God; this being full, perfect, sufficient, and entirely complete.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
They that hunger and thirst after righteousness ( ). Here Jesus turns one of the elemental human instincts to spiritual use. There is in all men hunger for food, for love, for God. It is passionate hunger and thirst for goodness, for holiness. The word for “filled” () means to feed or to fatten cattle from the word for fodder or grass like Mr 6:39 “green grass” ( ).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Shall be filled [] . A very strong and graphic word, originally applied to the feeding and fattening of animals in a stall. In Rev 19:21, it is used of the filling of the birds with the flesh of God ‘s enemies. Also of the multitudes fed with the loaves and fishes (Mt 14:20; Mr 8:8; Luk 9:17). It is manifestly appropriate here as expressing the complete satisfaction of spiritual hunger and thirst. Hence Wycliffe’s rendering, fulfilled, is strictly true to the original.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness:” (makarloi hoi peinontes kai dipsontes ten dikaiosunen) “Spiritually prosperous (specially blessed) are those who are hungering and thirsting continually after righteousness;” Specifically, directly, applicable was this assurance that day to the member of this new-covenant fellowship who had begun to follow Him, become “fishers of men,” Mat 4:18-25; Isa 55:1-3. 0 that men might crave righteousness of character and of faith, continuously.
2) “For they shall be filled.” (hoti autoi chortasthesontai) “Because they shall be satisfied.” Their spiritual hunger and thirst after God was to find its continual satisfaction and need supplied by Jesus Christ, who is “our sufficiency” in all things, in satisfying every need for righteousness, 2Co 3:5; 2Co 5:21; Php_4:19; Psa 107:1.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
6. Happy are they who hunger To hunger and thirst is here, I think, used as a figurative expression, (366) and means to suffer poverty, to want the necessaries of life, and even to be defrauded of one’s right. Matthew says, who thirst after righteousness, and thus makes one class stand for all the rest. He represents more strongly the unworthy treatment which they have received, when he says that, though they are anxious, though they groan, they desire nothing but what is proper. “Happy are they who, though their wishes are so moderate, that they desire nothing to be granted to them but what is reasonable, are yet in a languishing condition, like persons who are famishing with hunger.” Though their distressing anxiety exposes them to the ridicule of others, yet it is a certain preparation for happiness: for at length they shall be satisfied God will one day listen to their groans, and satisfy their just desires for to Him, as we learn from the song of the Virgin, it belongs to fill the hungry with good things, (Luk 1:53.)
(366) “ Par une figure qu’on appelle Synecdoche ;” — “ by a figure which is called Synecdoche,” in which a part is put for the whole.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) Which do hunger and thirst.We seem in this to hear the lesson which our Lord had learnt from the recent experience of the wilderness. The craving of bodily hunger has become a parable of that higher yearning after righteousness, that thirsting after God, even as the hart desireth the water-brooks, which is certain, in the end, to gain its full fruition. Desires after earthly goods are frustrated, or end in satiety and weariness. To this only belongs the promise that they who thus hunger and thirst shall assuredly be filled. The same thoughts meet us again in the Gospel which in many respects is so unlike that of St. Matthew. (Comp. Joh. 4:14; Joh. 4:32).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Hunger and thirst. Here is something more than mere vacuity, or penitence, or tranquil readiness. It is an ardent longing a holy appetite for all that is right and good. Filled The Gospel can fill the largest desire for the true good.
Thus far has Jesus, in the act of propounding his Gospel, pronounced preparatory blessings on those who are variously ready to receive it. Four benedictions are thus conferred on a proper receptiveness of heart.
He next pronounces two benedictions on positive traits of character; the one being a natural virtue sanctified by grace, the other a gracious state wrought by piety.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Blessed ones, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled.’
We must here first consider what hunger and thirst in these terms signify. It must be remembered that these words were spoken to people, many of whom could only afford at the most one good meal containing meat a week, if that. And what they had then had to be shared with the whole family, while during the remainder of the week they subsisted on what they could afford, which was often very little. Hunger was what happened when even that failed. So they regularly knew what real hunger meant. For some it was a constant experience.
Furthermore many of them constantly knew what it was to be out working in the hot sun and be some distance away from water, meanwhile having to carry on until the opportunity came to struggle through the heat of the sun to find a well, which might well contain little water, which they would share between them. Thus for them being what we would call really thirsty and panting for water was a regular experience. And even in the good times they knew what it meant to have to depend on water from a distant spring and having to share any available water collected with their families and friends. But that was everyday experience. They would not think of it as thirst. Thirst came when they were caught in a sandstorm in the wilderness, having to wait, kneeling down with their faces covered and their backs to the wind, until the storm died down, sipping any water that they carried and then having to survive until they could find more, with their lips cracked and dried, their throats parched, and their thirst constantly growing worse and worse.
So they regularly knew what real hunger and thirst meant. To them it was not just a matter of feeling a little peckish and a bit parched, but of real hunger and thirst. And this was what they would think of here, a craving and desire which had to be satisfied.
‘After righteousness.’ Verbs of hungering and thirsting are usually followed by the Genitive indicating the desire for a part. The use of the accusative here signifies the whole rather than a part. Thus the idea here is of seeking total righteousness.
In its central place in the chiasmus, this beatitude sums up all the others. And it is the speaking of the ones who are genuinely ‘hungry and thirsty for full righteousness’. They long for it and they crave it. And because of this, and because it is what God has worked within them, they will all be filled. For they had been made aware of their lack of righteousness, and they have repented, and they are aware that Jesus has brought them forgiveness, and so now they are hungry and thirsty have more of it and to be more like Him (Psa 42:2; Psa 63:1; Isa 41:17-20; Isa 55:1-2), and the promise is made that they will finally be ‘satisfied’, their hunger and thirst will be satiated, and they will have all that they need.
Basically they had been made aware of their sin and spiritual need, and in their hunger and thirst they had turned to look to the source of their salvation, to Jesus Christ (compare Mat 1:21; Joh 4:10-14), Who had saved them from their sins. They had been made righteous in Him (2Co 5:21). And this had now given them an even greater hunger for righteousness. They ‘seek first the Kingly Rule of God and His righteousness’ (Mat 6:33). That is their great desire. And so they now look for that work which God has begun in them to continue until they are themselves fully righteous in practise in the sight of God, until God wholly approves of them, until they are unblameable before Him. They want His Kingly Rule to be made real in their lives. So nothing is more important to them than to seek His righteousness, and to be like Him (1Jn 3:2). And they do this because God has blessed them, and given them this hunger and thirst, and because they are confident that He will continue to bless them. How different these people are from modern man’s picture of the ideal man, confident, overbearing, selfish, and spiritually bankrupt, or even the self-righteous. But these latter are hardly likely to be blessed.
We should note here that in Isaiah, ‘righteousness’ regularly equates with vindication and deliverance. It is active righteousness, God’s righteousness in action. Through the work of the Anointed Prophet His new people are to be given a garland of rejoicing ,the oil of joy and the garment of praise and this in order that they might be called ‘trees of righteousness’, (as a result of) the planting of the Lord, so that He might be glorified (Isa 61:3). Thus they will be able to say, ‘He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness’ (Isa 61:10), indicating by this that He has not only accepted them as righteous, but has been acting on them to make them righteous. The idea in both cases is that God has acted in righteous deliverance, so that, by His action, His righteousness, will not only revealed but will also surround them and be imparted to them, with the result that their own resultant righteousness, will be revealed. For when the skies open He will pour down righteousness as the rain (compare the drenching in the Holy Spirit – Mat 3:11) and the earth will produce deliverance (Isa 45:8). And Isa 44:1-5 demonstrates that this very much has in mind spiritual blessing.
And again He says, ‘I bring near My righteousness — and My salvation will not delay, and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel My glory’ (Isa 46:13; see also Isa 51:5; Isa 51:8; Isa 56:1). Here again God’s work within them is in mind. So when God brings near His righteousness to those who are hungry and thirsty after righteousness, they will enjoy His deliverance and salvation, while the Mighty Warrior, ‘the Redeemer Who will come to Zion and to those who turn from transgression (repent) in Jacob’, will also be upheld by salvation and righteousness, and He will wear righteousness as a breastplate and the helmet of salvation on His head (Isa 59:16-17; Isa 59:20). The idea in all this is that the Righteous One, through His Redeemer, will act in righteous power producing righteousness and salvation in His people. This is the righteousness for which those blessed by God will be hungering and thirsting.
And along with a personal desire for righteousness we may see here the thought of their longing for the deliverance and vindication of all God’s true people, something which is to be revealed as a result of His powerful activity. They long for God’s salvation to come about in themselves and in all His people, as they long for the Messianic deliverance. They look for the establishment of righteousness under God’s King (Isa 11:1-4) and Servant (Isa 42:1-4). This combination of personal aspiration and corporate hope is a full part of the Gospel. The individual is important, but the individual is also part of a larger body of which he or she is a member. Each is the Temple of the Holy Spirit (1Co 6:19), and yet so are the whole body (2Co 6:16). And it is the presence of the Holy Spirit that will produce righteousness.
‘They will be filled.’ The word indicates that their hunger and thirst will be fully satisfied. They will enjoy something of His righteousness even now in all its aspects as He moves in saving power among them, but in the end they will be even more fully vindicated, being made fully righteous, and enjoying righteousness to the full when they are presented holy, and unblameable and unreproveable before Him. They will in the end gorge on true righteousness, enjoying to the uttermost extent the righteousness of God in Jesus, both imputed and imparted, and sovereignly exercised on them as in Isaiah. And they will not just enjoy it as individuals, they will enjoy it as part of God’s true people. They will see God’s purposes come to their full consummation with themselves being a full part of it. God’s King (Isa 11:1-4) and Servant (Isa 42:1-4) will have been finally established in righteousness and justice, and His people will all be one in it together with Him.
So while the emphasis in the first three beatitudes is on men’s attitude towards God because God has blessed them, and on God’s resulting response to them, although it would certainly be an attitude that made them responsive to their neighbour, now in this fourth beatitude the full significance of His righteousness and salvation on behalf of His people has been made known. And then finally in the last three beatitudes Jesus will turn His thoughts more specifically towards their attitude towards others. For they must love both God and their neighbour. In these beatitudes they reveal something of what is in the heart of God.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Having named a few negative virtues, the Lord next mentions some positive qualifications which should characterize His disciples:
v. 6. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled. This righteousness is not that of Christ, imputed by faith, in which case this one sentence of Gospel would be out of place in the admonitions concerning the life and behavior of His followers. It is the external righteousness before the world, the piety of life which He here urges. “Therefore understand here the external righteousness before the world, as we comport ourselves one toward another. That this, briefly and simply, is the meaning of these words: That is a truly blessed person that always continues and with all his might strives after this, that all things everywhere be in proper order and every person do right, and helps to hold and further such a condition with words and deeds, with counsel and action. ” The disciples of Christ should hunger and thirst, be extremely eager for the possession of such piety, in order to receive the blessing of a full and complete satisfaction. This is God’s reward of mercy for virtue, not only the happy, conviction of things well done, but, according to His will, also temporal recompense. Psa 37:25; Isa 3:10; Pro 11:18-19; Pro 14:34, and finally an acknowledgment of the virtue in heaven, Psa 36:9; Rev 7:16; Psa 17:15.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 5:6. Blessed are they which do hunger, &c. Our Saviour uses the ideas of hunger and thirst metaphorically, to express vehement desire. By righteousness seems to be meant that holiness which the Gospel teaches and recommends, in opposition to the righteousness of Scribes and Pharisees. So that the persons here said to hunger and thirst are those who earnestly long for and are sensible of the want of that salvation which is procured by the Lord JesusChrist. This beatitude, therefore, may be thus paraphrased: “Happy are they who, instead of desiring insatiably the possessions of others, and endeavouring to obtain them by violence or deceit, eagerly hunger and thirst after righteousness, and make it the delightful business of life, in dependenceondivinegrace,to improve in all the branches of evangelical holiness and goodness: for they shall, through the grace of God in Christ Jesus, never be disappointedinthesepiouspursuits,butbeabundantlysatisfiedwiththerighteousness which they seek, and be competently supplied with every necessary good.” See Mat 5:10. Pro 21:21. Mat 6:33., Doddridge, and Wetstein.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 5:6 . Concerning and , which regularly govern the genitive with the accusative , where the object is conceived as that which endures the action, see examples of this rare use in Kypke, Obss . I. p. 17; Loesner, Obss . p. 11; and especially Winer, p. 192 [E. T. 256]. The metaphorical meaning (Isa 55:1 ; Psa 42:3 ; Sir 51:24 ) of the verbs is that of longing desire . See Pricaeus and Wetstein in loc. ; as regards ., also Jacobs, ad Anthol . VI. p. 26, VIII. p. 233. The , however, is the righteousness , the establishment of which was the aim of Christ’s work, and the condition of participation in the Messiah’s kingdom. They are designated as such whose “great earnestness, desire, and fervour” (Luther) are directed towards a moral constitution free from guilt. Luther, besides, strikingly draws attention to this, that before all these portions of the beatitudes, “faith must first be there as the tree and headpiece or sum” of righteousness.
] not generally regni Messiani felicitate (Fritzsche), but, as the context requires, : they will obtain righteousness in full measure, namely, in being declared to be righteous (Rom 5:19 ; Gal 5:5 , and remarks thereon) at the judgment of the Messiah (Mat 25:34 ), and then live for ever in perfect righteousness, so that God will be all in all (1Co 15:28 ). Comp. 2Pe 3:13 . On the figurative ., Psa 17:15 ; Psa 107:9 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1290
HUNGERING AND THIRSTING AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS
Mat 5:6. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled.
MEN naturally desire happiness: but they know not in what it is to be found. The philosophers of old wearied themselves in vain to find out what was mans chief good. But our blessed Lord has informed us wherein it consists: it is found in holiness alone; which, when embodied, as it were, and exercised in all its branches, renders us completely blessed. In this sense we understand the words of our text; wherein are set forth,
I.
The distinctive character of a Christian
It is a gross perversion of Scripture to interpret this passage as relating to the righteousness of Christ: for though it is true that every Christian desires to be clothed in that righteousness, and shall, in consequence of that desire, obtain his wishes, yet it is not the truth contained in the words before us: they certainly relate to that inward righteousness which every Christian must possess, and to that holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
Now the character of every Christian is, that he desires holiness,
1.
Supremely
[Other desires are not eradicated from the human breast: the natural appetites remain after our conversion the same as before, except as they are restrained and governed by a higher principle. In proportion, indeed, as religion gains an ascendant in the soul, those words will be verified, He that eateth and drinketh of the water that Christ will give him, shall never thirst [Note: Joh 4:14.]. But from the very commencement of the divine life, all earthly things sink in the Christians estimation, and are accounted as dung and dross in comparison of the Divine image. In this sense Christ is all to him [Note: Col 3:11. Christ here means the image of Christ. See Disc. on that passage.]: and he can say, Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee.]
2.
Constantly
[While other desires remain in the heart, they will of course occasionally rise in opposition to the better principle: but the prevailing desire of the soul is after holiness. The flesh may lust against the Spirit, and seem for a moment to triumph over it: but the Spirit will lust and strive against the flesh [Note: Gal 5:17.], till it has vanquished its rebellious motions. The needle may be driven by violence from its accustomed position: but its attractions are ever towards the pole; and it will never rest till it has resumed its wonted place. Its momentary diversion serves but to prove its fixed habitual inclination. In like manner, temptation itself, in rousing up the soul to action, calls forth its heavenly tendencies, and displays the holy energies with which it is endued.]
3.
Insatiably
[Every other desire may be satiated; but the more of spiritual nourishment we receive, the more will our hunger and thirst after it be increased. St. Paul himself could not sit down contented; but forgetting what he had attained, he reached forth for higher degrees of holiness [Note: Php 3:13.]. It is only when we awake up after the perfect likeness of our God, that we shall be satisfied with it [Note: Psa 17:15.].]
Truly enviable will this state appear, if we consider,
II.
The blessedness annexed to it
To be filled with good and nutritious food is the utmost that the bodily appetite can desire. It is in this sense that we are to understand the promise in the text. The person who hungers and thirsts after righteousness, shall be made,
1.
Truly righteous
[There is a negative kind of holiness, which is neither pleasing to God nor profitable to man: it consists merely in an abstinence from open sin, and a discharge of external duties. But real holiness pervades the whole man: it comprehends the whole circle of divine graces: it reaches to the thoughts and desires of the heart; and assimilates us to God in all his communicable perfections. Now this is that with which the true Christian shall be filled: in all his dispositions towards God and man, he shall be changed: he shall not only be delivered from all that would injure his character among men, but shall be transformed into the very image of his God in righteousness and true holiness.]
2.
Progressively righteous
[That degree of perfection to which Christians may attain, is not gained at once. All the members of the new man, as well as of the material body, do indeed exist at the moment of our birth: but they are then in a state of infantine weakness: and their arrival at a state of maturity is a gradual work. Now this work shall be advanced in the souls of those who earnestly desire it: they shall hold on their way, growing stronger and stronger [Note: Job 17:9.]; and, like the risen sun, shine brighter and brighter unto the perfect day [Note: Pro 4:18.]. The Lord will perfect that which concerneth them [Note: Psa 138:8.], and carry on his work until the day of Christ [Note: Php 1:6.].]
3.
Perfectly righteous
[Though absolute perfection is not to be attained in this life, yet every righteous person may expect it, as the completion of his wishes, and the consummation of his bliss. The moment that his soul is released from this frail tabernacle, it shall bid an everlasting farewell to sin and sorrow. The hunger and thirst which characterize him in this world, will then cease for ever: there will remain to him no heights unattained, no wishes unaccomplished: his soul will be filled with the desired good, yea, filled to the utmost extent of its capacity.]
Application
[Are there those who, instead of hungering and thirsting after righteousness, despise it? Tell me, will ye despise it in the day of judgment? will ye despise it, when ye shall see the difference that is put between the godly and the ungodly? And what is that which ye prefer to it? Can ye say of your pleasures, your riches, or your honours, what our Lord says of righteousness? shall ye certainly be filled with those things? or if ye were, would they ever render you truly blessed? Go, ask of Solomon, or ask of any who have made the experiment; and see whether, in their sober moments, they will not confess those things to be vanity and vexation of spirit? O spend not your money any more for that which is not bread, nor labour for that which satisfieth not; but eat ye that which is good, and let your soul be satisfied with fatness [Note: Isa 55:2-3.].
Are there those who rest in a form of religion? Know that it is not the form, but the power, of godliness that God requires. The Pharisees of old abounded in outward duties; but except your righteousness exceed theirs, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. That which you must desire, that which you must attain, is an universal change both of heart and life: you must become new creatures: old things must pass away, and all things become new.
Are there any discouraged because of the small proficiency they have made in holiness? Doubtless this is a matter of lamentation to the best of men. If indeed we are excusing ourselves, and pacifying our consciences from the idea that in this frail state we cannot but commit sin, we are deceiving our own souls; for he that is born of God, sinneth not [Note: 1Jn 3:9.]; that is, he allows not himself in any sin, whether of excess or defect; whether of commission or of omission. But if our souls are really athirst for God, and we are panting after him, as the hart after the water-brooks, we need not fear. God will ere long fill the hungry with good things; he will satisfy the longing soul, and replenish every sorrowful soul. The very idea of hunger is a painful sensation of want; and if holiness be the object of that appetite, all shall be well, yea, and all is well: that soul is blessed, and shall be filled.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Ver. 6. Blessed are those that hunger and thirst after righteousness ] The righteousness of Christ both imputed and imparted ( iustitia imputata, impertita ). This is in Christ for us, being wrought by his value and merit, and is called the righteousness of justification. This is in us from Christ, being wrought by his virtue and spirit, and is called the righteousness of sanctification. Both these the blessed must hunger and thirst after, that is, earnestly, and afflictim desire, as Rachel did for children, she must prevail or perish; as David did after the water of the well of Bethlehem, to the jeopardy of the lives of his three mightiest, 1Ch 11:18 ; as the hunted hart (or, as the Septuagint readeth it, , hind) brayeth after the water brooks. The philosophers observe of the hart or hind, that being a beast thirsty by nature, when she is pursued by dogs, by reason of heat and loss of breath, her thirst is increased. (Aristot., Lucret., Oppian., Psa 42:1 ) And in females the passions are stronger than in males; so that she breathes and brays after the brooks with utmost desire: so panteth the good soul after Christ, it panteth and fainteth, it breatheth and breaketh for the longing that it hath unto his righteousness at all times, Psa 119:20 . She fainteth with Jonathan, swooneth and is sick with the Spouse, yea, almost dead with that poor affamished Amalekite, 1Sa 30:12 . And this spiritual appetite add affection ariseth from a deep and due sense and feeling of our want of Christ, whole Christ, and that there is an absolute necessity of every drop of his blood. There must be a sad and serious consideration of man’s misery and God’s mercy. Whence will arise (as in hunger and thirst), 1. A sense of pain in the stomach. 2. A want and emptiness. 3. An eager desire of supply from Christ, who is the true bread of life, and heavenly manna; the rock flowing with honey, and fountain of living water, that reviveth the fainting spirits of every true Jonathan and Samson, and makes them never to thirst again after the world’s tasteless fooleries: like as his mouth will not water after homely provision that hath lately tasted of delicate sustenance.
They shall be satisfied ] Because true desires are the breathings of a broken heart, which God will not despise, Psa 51:17 . He poureth not the oil of his grace but into broken vessels. For indeed, whole vessels are full vessels, and so this precious liquor would run over and be spilt on the ground. There may be some faint desires (as of wishers and woulders) even in hell’s mouth; as Balaam desired to die the death of the righteous, but liked not to live their life; Pilate desired to know what is truth, but stayed not to know it; that faint merchant in the Gospel, that cheapened heaven of our Saviour, but was loth to go to the price of it. “The desire of the slothful killeth him,” Pro 21:25 ; Mat 19:22 . These were but fits and flashes, and they came to nothing. Carnal men care not to seek, whom yet they desire to find, saith Bernard ( Carnales non curant quaerere, quem tamen desiderant invenire; cupientes consequi, sed non et sequi ); fain they would have Christ, but care not to make after him: as Herod had of a long time desired to see our Saviour, but never stirred out of doors to come where he was, Luk 23:8 . But now, the desire of the righteous, that shall be satisfied, as Solomon hath it, that shall be well filled, as beasts are after a good bait (as our Saviour’s word here signifieth). hoc proprie dicitur de armentis. Nam est gramen aut pabulum. Desires, as they must be ardent and violent, such as will take no nay, or be set down with silence or sad answers (whence it is that desire and zeal go together, 2Co 7:11 ), so if they be right, they are ever seconded with endeavour after the thing desired. Hence the apostle contents not himself to say, “that if there be first a willing mind,” God accepts, &c., 2Co 8:12 , but presently adds, “Now perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also;” that is, a sincere endeavour to perform: as a thirsty man will not long for drink only, but labour after it; or a covetous man wish for wealth, but strive to compass it. And thus to run is to attain; thus to will is to work; thus to desire is to do the will of our heavenly Father, who accepts pence for pounds, mites for millions, and accounts us as good as we wish to be. He hath also promised to fill the hungry with good things, to rain down righteousness on the dry and parched ground, to fulfil the desires of them that fear him. So that it is but our asking and his giving; our opening the mouth and he will fill it; our hungering and his feeding; our thirsting and his watering; our open hand and his open heart. The oil failed not till the vessels failed: neither are we straitened in God till in our own bowels, 2Co 6:12 ; “Dear wife” (saith Lawrence Saunders the martyr), “riches have I none to leave behind, wherewith to endow you after the worldly manner; but that treasure of tasting how sweet Christ is to hungry consciences (whereof, I thank my Christ, I do feel part, and would feel more), that I bequeath unto you, and to the rest of my beloved in Christ, to retain the same in sense of heart always. Pray, pray: I am merry, and I trust I shall be, maugre the teeth of all the devils in hell. I utterly refuse myself, and resign me to my Christ, in whom I know I shall be strong, as he seeth needful.” (Acts and Mon.)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
6. ] See Psa 107:9 ; Psa 65:4 ; Psa 22:26 ; Isa 41:17 . This hunger and thirst is the true sign of that new life on which those born of the Spirit (Joh 3:3 ; Joh 3:5 ) have entered; and it is after ., i.e. perfect conformity to the holy will of God . This was His meat, Joh 4:34 . ‘lllo cibo saturabuntur de quo ipse Dominus dicit, Meus cibus est ut faciam voluntatem Patris mei, quod est, justitia: et illa aqua, de qua quisquis biberit, ut Idem dicit, fiet in eo fons aqu salientis in vitam ternam.’ Aug [37] in loc. (vol. iii. pt. 2, Migne). But he elsewhere says (in Ev. Joh. Tract. 26. 1 (vol. iii. pt. 2)), after quoting this verse, ‘Justitiam vero nobis esse Christum, Paulus Apostolus dicit. Ac per hoc qui esurit Hunc Panem, esuriat Justitiam: sed justitiam qu de clo descendit, justitiam quam dat Deus, non quam sibi facit homo.’ (Chrysostom confines himself to the moral explanation, as also Euthymius.) They shall be satisfied in the new heaven and new earth , , 2Pe 3:13 . Cf. the remarkable parallel, Ps. 16:15 (LXX), , . This hunger and thirst after righteousness is admirably set forth in the three first petitions of the Lord’s prayer, ‘Hallowed be Thy name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.’
[37] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo , 395 430
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 5:6 . If the object of the hunger and thirst had not been mentioned this fourth Beatitude would have been parallel in form to the second: Blessed the hungry, for they shall be filled. We should then have another absolute affirmation requiring qualification, and raising the question: What sort of hunger is it which is sure to be satisfied? That might be the original form of the aphorism as given in Luke. The answer to the question it suggests is similar to that given under Beatitude 1. The hunger whose satisfaction is sure is that which contains its own satisfaction. It is the hunger for moral good. The passion for righteousness is righteousness in the deepest sense of the word. . These verbs, like all verbs of desire, ordinarily take the genitive of the object. Here and in other places in N. T. they take the accusative, the object being of a spiritual nature, which one not merely desires to participate in, but to possess in whole. Winer, xxx. 10, thus distinguishes the two constructions: = to thirst after philosophy; . = to thirst for possession of philosophy as a whole. Some have thought that is to be understood before ., and that the meaning is: “Blessed they who suffer natural hunger and thirst on account of righteousness”. Grotius understands by . the way or doctrine of righteousness.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 5:6
6″Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
Mat 5:6 “hunger and thirst” This is a present active participle describing the basic ongoing spiritual needs of humankind (cf. Joh 4:10-15). This metaphor reflects a kingdom person’s ongoing attitude toward God (cf. Psa 42:2; Psa 63:1-5; Isa 55:1; Amo 8:11-12). This is a sign that the image of God, lost in the fall, has been restored through Christ.
NASB, NKJV,
NRSV”for righteousness”
TEV”to do what God requires”
NJB”for uprightness”
This key theological term can mean (1) a declared (legal) or imputed (banking) right standing (cf. Romans 4) or (2) a personal kingdom ethic, which is Matthew’s use of the term (cf. Mat 6:1 for Synagogue usage). It involves both justification and justice; both sanctification and sanctified living! This is another example of Matthew’s circumlocution, a substitution of another word or phrase for the name of God (cf. Mat 5:7-8).
SPECIAL TOPIC: RIGHTEOUSNESS
“satisfied” Literally “gorged,” this term was used of fattening cattle for market.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
hunger and thirst, &c. The idiom for a strong desire. Compare Psa 42:1, Psa 42:2; Psa 119:103.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
6.] See Psa 107:9; Psa 65:4; Psa 22:26; Isa 41:17. This hunger and thirst is the true sign of that new life on which those born of the Spirit (Joh 3:3; Joh 3:5) have entered; and it is after ., i.e. perfect conformity to the holy will of God. This was His meat, Joh 4:34. lllo cibo saturabuntur de quo ipse Dominus dicit, Meus cibus est ut faciam voluntatem Patris mei, quod est, justitia: et illa aqua, de qua quisquis biberit, ut Idem dicit, fiet in eo fons aqu salientis in vitam ternam. Aug[37] in loc. (vol. iii. pt. 2, Migne). But he elsewhere says (in Ev. Joh. Tract. 26. 1 (vol. iii. pt. 2)), after quoting this verse, Justitiam vero nobis esse Christum, Paulus Apostolus dicit. Ac per hoc qui esurit Hunc Panem, esuriat Justitiam: sed justitiam qu de clo descendit, justitiam quam dat Deus, non quam sibi facit homo. (Chrysostom confines himself to the moral explanation, as also Euthymius.) They shall be satisfied-in the new heaven and new earth, , 2Pe 3:13. Cf. the remarkable parallel, Ps. 16:15 (LXX), , . This hunger and thirst after righteousness is admirably set forth in the three first petitions of the Lords prayer,-Hallowed be Thy name-Thy kingdom come-Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
[37] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo, 395-430
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 5:6. , .., who hunger and thirst, etc.) who feel that of themselves they have no righteousness by which they may approve themselves either to God or man, and eagerly long for it. Faith is here described, suitably to the beginning of the New Testament.- , righteousness) Our Lord plainly declares Himself here to be the author of righteousness. That which is signified here is not the right (jus) of the human, but of the Divine tribunal. This verse is the centre of this passage, and the theme of the whole sermon. Our Lord does not say, Blessed are the righteous, as he presently says, Blessed are the merciful, etc.; but, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness. Pure righteousness will become their portion in due time. (See 2Pe 3:13; Isa 60:21.)-, they shall be filled) with righteousness; see Rom 14:17. This was the meat of Jesus himself: see Joh 4:34; cf. Mat 3:15. This satisfying fulness He proposes to His followers in the whole of this sermon, and promises and offers them in this very verse.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
are: Psa 42:1, Psa 42:2, Psa 63:1, Psa 63:2, Psa 84:2, Psa 107:9, Amo 8:11-13, Luk 1:53, Luk 6:21, Luk 6:25, Joh 6:27
for: Psa 4:6, Psa 4:7, Psa 17:15, Psa 63:5, Psa 65:4, Psa 145:19, Son 5:1, Isa 25:6, Isa 41:17, Isa 44:3, Isa 49:9, Isa 49:10, Isa 55:1-3, Isa 65:13, Isa 66:11, Joh 4:14, Joh 6:48-58, Joh 7:37, Rev 7:16
Reciprocal: Psa 36:8 – abundantly Psa 132:15 – I will satisfy Pro 10:24 – the desire Pro 11:23 – desire Pro 19:23 – shall abide Pro 21:21 – that Ecc 1:8 – the eye Isa 51:1 – ye that follow Jer 31:14 – my people Jer 31:25 – General Mat 6:33 – his Mat 14:20 – were Rom 7:24 – wretched 1Co 12:31 – covet Gal 5:17 – so Eph 3:19 – that ye Rev 22:11 – and he that
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
HUNGERING AND THIRSTING
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall he filled.
Mat 5:6
What does this mean for us?
I. For ourselves.Remember that the blessing, the high place in the Kingdom, the real attainment of what they long for, is for those who hunger for goodness, in whose heart it is a real, passionate, unsatisfied craving. That does not mean that good is easy, that a few efforts, the breaking off of a few bad habits, the giving up of a few unlawful pleasures, will make us happy and contented. God does not reward moral effort thus. His surest reward, the surest sign of His loving approval, is when He shows us how much still is lackingsome new self, some new enterprise. How shall we nerve ourselves to the quest.
II. For others.God has not set us each by himself to purify as best we may each his own heart, He has set us together. He has formed us into societies, one within another, binding us by a thousand links to our fellows, so that none can stand without helping others to stand, nor fall without dragging others down with them; linking even generation to generation, so that the effect of our acts seems to echo through all time. We shall not love goodness, hunger, and thirst for it in ourselves, unless we love it, long and crave and cry, and strive to see it also ruling in the world about us. If it were true but of a few of us that our souls were filled with that sacred hunger, how would the world in which we move soften and grow pure and bright around us!
Dean Wickham.
Illustration
There is a representation in the Catacombs, on Christian tombs, and as the first sign of Christian life, of a stag drinking eagerly at the silver stream. This is the true likeness of hungering and thirsting after righteousness. When we toil towards the close of our earthly course, or in any especial period of it; when we feel stifled by the sultry and suffocating sense of the hardness and selfishness of the world about us; when our breath is, as it were, choked by the dust and trifles and forms and fashions of the worlds vast machinery, we may still join the cry, I thirst for the refreshing sight of any pure, upright, generous spirit; I thirst for the day when I may drink freely of Gods boundless charity; I thirst for the day when I shall hear the sound of abundance of rain, and a higher heaven than that which now encloses us round. Happy are they who, when they see generous deeds and hear of generous characters higher than their own, long to be like them.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
5:6
To hunger and thirst after righteousness means to be eager to learn what constitutes a righteous life. It does not stop there, for when a man is hungry he not only seeks to find some food, but also is ready to partake of it. This means that the ones whom Jesus was blessing would be eager to do that which is right.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 5:6. Hunger and thirst after righteousness. The righteousness, i.e., Gods; something without us, given to us, not merely imputed to us, though that is included, but made ours, part of our life, as food is assimilated. A still stronger representation of the sense of spiritual need, advancing to positive longing, for a blessing, known to be the one needed, namely, Gods approvalconformity to the will of God. Those thus hungering are blessed, for they shall be filled, shall get in abundance what they want. A narrow view of this righteousness interferes with the full obtaining of it.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe, 1. The character of the persons whom Christ pronounces blessed; such as hunger and thirst after righteousness.
2. Wherein their blessedness doth consist: They shall be filled.
By righteousness we are to understand, 1. A righteousness of justification; the righteousness of the Mediator imputed to us, by which we stand righteous in God’s sight, being freed from condemnation.
2. A righteousness of sanctification, wrought in us by the Holy Spirit, enabling us to act righteously.
By the former, there is a relative change in our condition; by the latter, a real change in our constitution.
1. Learn, That all and only such as do spiritually hunger and thirst after Christ and his righteousness, are in a happy and blessed condition.
2. That to hunger and thirst after holiness is to apprehend the worth of it, to be sensible of the want of it, to be desirous of it, and restless in endeavours after it, as men usually do that are pinched with hunger. Dr. Hammond’s Prac. Catech.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mat 5:6. Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness That, instead of desiring the possessions of others, and endeavouring to obtain them by violence or deceit; and instead of coveting this worlds goods, sincerely, earnestly, and perseveringly desire universal holiness of heart and life, or deliverance from all sinful dispositions and practices, and a complete restoration of their souls to the image of God in which they were created: a just and beautiful description this of that fervent, constant, increasing, restless, and active desire; of that holy ardour and vehemence of soul in pursuit of the most eminent degrees of universal goodness which will end in complete satisfaction: For they shall be filled Shall obtain the righteousness which they hunger and thirst for, and be abundantly satisfied therewith.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
JOHNS INFLUENCE
Mat 5:6, & Mar 1:5. Then there went out unto him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the regions round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. Six millions of people are included in these countries. O the wonderful power and magnetism of Johns preaching! He actually emptied the cities and populated the desert with thronging millions. From dewy morn till dusky eve, the rich on camels, the middle classes on donkeys, and the poor trudging on foot, literally crowd the way, off into the desert wild and drear, carrying their food and bedding, that they may spend a fortnight in the grandest camp-meeting that the world has seen in four thousand years. Water is very scarce in the wilderness [desert] of Judea. Traveling through it four times, I saw none but the Brook Cherith. I have heard of it, however, in other localities of that desert. Doubtless the scarcity of water to supply the multitudes and the animals they rode, as well as for baptismal demands, induced John to go away to the Jordan, only a dozen miles from this desert. The Jordan rises in great Mt. Hermon, ten thousand feet high, capped with a world of snows, all through the long summer incessantly melting, and keeping the river abundantly supplied with plenty of water for all purposes. Behold John, standing on the beautiful, spreading plain of the Jordan, surrounded by an audience of fifty thousand people, listening spellbound to his thunder peals, while the lightning of conviction is flashing from the skies, electrifying all hearts, with the gushing tears of a soul-crushing repentance. Moses was a great baptist, baptizing all the people at the tabernacle door upon the ratification of the Sinaitic Covenant. (Heb 9:10-12.) Judaism, with its vast and operose ritual, the Messianic hemisphere, offering millions of slain victims, typifying the atonement of Christ, while the spiritual was equally operose, emblematizing the work of the Holy Ghost by the innumerable watery ablutions for the purification from all sorts of ceremonial uncleanness. Hence the Johannic dispensation must be characterized by ceremonial purifications. At the present time, the Oriental religions gather by thousands upon the very spot where John baptized the Savior, the priest dipping the cross three times in the name of the Three Persons of the Trinity, they all simultaneously plunge themselves under the rolling wave of the holy Jordan three times; not doing this for baptism as the initiatory rite into the Church-this they have already received but as a holy ablution to sanctify them, as they all believe the baptism of the Savior sanctified the Jordan. As John had neither the time nor the physical ability to handle his converts, they either plunged themselves under the rolling tide, or John, after the manner of the Jewish priest (and he was one), dipping the hyssop in the water, sprinkled the multitudes, somewhat as a Catholic priest nowadays sprinkles his audiences. The Jordan has plenty of water, and there is plenty in all parts of the earth. Be sure you satisfy your conscience as to this duty.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
As mentioned previously, Matthew always used the term "righteousness" in the sense of personal fidelity to God and His will (Mat 3:15; cf. Psa 42:2; Psa 63:1; Amo 8:11-14). He never used it of imputed righteousness, justification. Therefore, the righteousness that the blessed hunger and thirst for is not salvation. It is personal holiness and, extending this desire more broadly, the desire that holiness may prevail among all people (cf. Mat 6:10). When believers bewail their own and society’s sinfulness and pray that God will send a revival to clean things up, they demonstrate a hunger and thirst for righteousness.
The encouraging promise of Jesus is that such people will eventually receive the answer to their prayers. Messiah will establish righteousness in the world when He sets up His kingdom (Isa 45:8; Isa 61:10-11; Isa 62:1-2; Jer 23:16; Jer 33:14-16; Dan 9:24).